Long Island Man Charged in Attack on U.S. Base in Afghanistan

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

A 26-year-old American-born Long Island man who traveled to Pakistan and trained in a Qaeda camp there last year has been charged with taking part in a rocket attack against a United States base in Afghanistan, according to court papers unsealed on Wednesday.

The man, Bryant Neal Vinas, who was arrested in Peshawar, Pakistan, last November, was also charged with assisting Al Qaeda by providing “expert advice and assistance” that was “derived from specialized knowledge of the New York transit system and the Long Island Rail Road, communications equipment and personnel,” according to the papers.

The court papers, a criminal information charging Mr. Vinas with conspiracy and carrying out the attempted missile attack, providing material support to Al Qaeda and receiving military support from the group, did not mention a specific New York City plot involving the Long Island Rail Road. The papers, filed by prosecutors in the office of the Brooklyn United States attorney, Benton J. Campbell, also say that he attempted the attack and received “military-type training” from and on behalf of Al Qaeda between March and August 2008.

But around the time of his arrest in Pakistan in November, the federal authorities in New York issued warnings about a possible attack on mass transit. One official said that the information about the possible attack, which the authorities described at the time as “aspirational,” came from a Long Island man who had been arrested in Pakistan.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/nyregion/23terror.html?hp

[ohio2007]

1. American pleads guilty in attack on U.S. base in Afghanistan

snip

Vinas, 26, is from Long Island, and is an American citizen, said a source close to the investigation. He was arrested in Pakistan, the source said.

Vinas pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court on January 28 in a closed hearing, according to court documents. At the time, the case was filed naming "John Doe" as a defendant and was sealed.

snip
A European intelligence source told CNN that Vinas was associated with Moez Garsallaoui, a Tunisian Islamist militant, at training camps in Pakistan. The source said Vinas also was associated with a Belgian cell that included Hicham Beyayo, who was arrested in December in one of the largest counterterrorism operations in Belgian history.

In July 2008 Garsallaoui was boasting of cross-border attacks on U.S. bases, the intelligence source said. Beyayo has provided authorities with a detailed account of the training he and others in the group received, according to the source and Beyayo's attorney

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/22/terror.suspect/index.html

Kind of old news but why not release the video transcripts?

His thoughts and words to biased to let the country watch ?

[Winterblues]

14. How did this guy get such a quick court date?

Why wasn't he sent to Gitmo for seven years and tortured for five of those years and told he had no right to trial? Where is Cheney when we need him? Someone has to object to such "Liberal" treatment....

[MetaTrope]

16. No kidding, if he'd led other troops in raping a 14-year-old Iraqi child and murdering her

and her family, it would have taken 2 years to get to court...then the military would make a shrugged admission that their troops are likely to end up rapists and murderers, and the sentencing would take another half a year.

[Historic NY]

2. And were worried about foreigners'....another Army trained terrorist

[ohio2007]

15. I doubt the army training he got 'radicalized' him

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8148473&page=1


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He3DGDOZ684

[RamboLiberal]

3. Feds: Man gave al-Qaida NYC subway info

Source: MSNBC/AP

NEW YORK - Authorities revealed Wednesday that an American — charged with giving al-Qaida information on the New York transit system and attacking a U.S. military base in Afghanistan — has been a secret witness in the fight against terrorism both here and overseas.

Court papers unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn identified the defendant as Bryant Neal Vinas, also known as "Ibrahim."

His identity had been kept secret since his indictment late last year. Court papers indicate that he pleaded guilty in January in a sealed courtroom in Brooklyn.

Federal prosecutors refused to discuss his background Wednesday. But a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Vinas provided critical information that led to a security alert about the New York City subway system last year.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32086959/ns/us_news-security/

[Libertas1776]

4. Apparantly he is from

Patchogue on Long Island. Grew up in your average suburban home, ya know, a regular terrorist breeding ground. :sarcasm:
Seriously, though the whole thing is very troubling and a little too close to home.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. "Hey, how do I get to Madison Square Garden from here?"

"One way is practice, practice, practice. The other is even easier. Take the A train to . . . . "

[No Elephants]

8. So, America harbors terrorists. Does that mean we have to start bombing ourselves soon?

:nuke:

[rfranklin]

6. I'm sure this guy is deeply into the Al Qaeda network....

Is he related to "Curveball?"

[No Elephants]

9. "Curveball" was a "Screwball."

:tinfoilhat:

[MetaTrope]

7. Let me guess, a "critical security alert" that nailed exactly, oh, zero al-Qaida operatives?

Bet there were plenty of medals handed around for that one!

[No Elephants]

10. True, but he kept the NYC subway safe for 8 years. Oops. Never mind.

[Parche]

11. so he was working for the CIA?

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[lurky]

12. What is so secret about the subway?

What information could there possibly be that is so top-secret? That the G train is totally unreliable? That the rats are big and aggressive?

[Javaman]

13. They were training the bread loaf sized sewer rats via radio control

to take over the driving of the subway cars so they could throw the whole schedule off and prevent the yankees from having sold out games (even though they can't since they out priced themselves with the new stadium, but that never stopped anyone from doing something really dumb before, but I digress) which in turn would cause a massive panic in the baseball manufacturing base and cause all the makers of red thread to go into bankruptcy thereby driving the great american past time into oblivion.

See? It's all so clear!